Nomenclature, geometrical structure and isomerism of coordination compounds

Abstract

In order to facilitate communication between chemists it is desirable that a convention for naming coordination compounds be followed. This section contains an outline of the system suggested by a Nomenclature Committee of the International Union of Pure and Applied Chemistry (IUPAC).¹ Although this convention is commonly adopted—the Russian literature contains some variants and each language uses its own words, or spelling (as in ‘sulphate’ and ‘sulfate’ for UK and USA, respectively, although the UK has recently agreed to adopt the American version)—it is often simpler to give a structural formula, e.g. [Co(NH₃)₄C1(NO₂)]⁺, than to write the name in full and this will frequently be done in the following chapters. Apart from this device for side-stepping the problem, in this book we generally follow the most recent IUPAC recommendations except for those which have yet to gain general acceptance.